House Votes to Delay Health-Law Mandates

House lawmakers on Wednesday voted to approve two separate bills amending portions of the Affordable Care Act, the latest moves by the GOP to try to throw up hurdles to the Obama health law.

The first bill would codify the year-long delay to the obligation on companies to provide health care coverage to their workers from next year. The second would delay a similar obligation on individuals to purchase health-care insurance.

The vote on the first bill delaying the employer mandate passed 264-161, with 35 Democrats joining Republicans in supporting it. The vote on the second legislation was approved by a vote of 251-174. On that measure, 22 Democrats sided with the majority.

Neither bill is expected to be taken up by the Democratic-controlled Senate. The White House said the president would veto either bill if it was advanced to his desk by Congress.

Republicans argued that the first bill was necessary because the president doesn’t have the constitutional authority to decide which parts of a law he chooses to enforce. They then argued the second bill was fundamental because it would be unfair to delay the mandate for employers and not for individuals.

“The president is not the king, he is a president,” said Rep. Candice Miller (R., Mich.), on the House floor. “He doesn’t have the authority to delay a law on his own. Congress would have to do that.”

House Democrats dismissed the bills as political theater and urged Republicans to stop seeking to pass bills that would roll back part or all of the health care law.

“This is about gotcha politics,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), in an angry address to House lawmakers. “Isn’t it a shame when millions of Americans have no health care…that we spend our time on this floor of gotcha politics.”

Mr. Hoyer said that the bills would be the 38th time that House Republicans had sought to repeal or delay some or all of the health care law.

Correction: Rep. Candice Miller represents Michigan. The initial version of this article incorrectly said she represented Ohio.

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